Cheap and cheerful: Poundland hits London exchange

LONDON (AFP) - Discount retailer Poundland's remarkable rise in Britain was capped on Wednesday as it debuted on the London stock market - largely unnoticed by customers browsing the piles of chocolate and bottles of detergent in its shops.

As its name suggests, Poundland prices most items at £1 (S$2.10), a formula that in tough times has seen it grow to a network of more than 500 stores across Britain and Ireland.

In Brixton, an hour's walk south from central London, global big business and a slick stock market flotation was far from the minds of shoppers at the Poundland store.

The gleaming, space-age towers of the capital's financial heartland can be seen on the horizon, but inside the shop was a cornucopia of domestic goods: tea towels compete for shoppers' attention with crockery, candles, cookware and an entire wall of potato crisps.